Finding PMF

Locating the light switch in a dark mansion.

Building something people truly want—something that solves a real, painful, “hair-on-fire” problem—is one of the hardest things you can do.
They call it 'finding product-market fit.' I call it the most emotionally turbulent rollercoaster you can strap yourself into. The highs are incredible. The lows are brutal. Most days, you're somewhere in between—uncertain, hopeful, frustrated, stubbornly trying again.
This journey is not for everyone. You have to be a particular kind of person to enjoy this chaos. And even then, it tests you. Every day, you ask yourself: Is this working? Are we close? Am I fooling myself?
One of my heroes, Andrew Wiles, once described the process of doing mathematics like this:
“Perhaps I could best describe my experience of doing mathematics in terms of entering a dark mansion. You go into the first room and it's dark, completely dark. You stumble around, bumping into the furniture. Gradually, you learn where each piece of furniture is. And finally, after six months or so, you find the light switch and turn it on. Suddenly, it's all illuminated and you can see exactly where you were. Then you enter the next dark room…”

That’s exactly what it feels like to build a startup. Each room is a new problem space. Every feature, workflow, or customer segment is another bump in the dark. But sometimes—rarely—you flip the switch. And in that moment, everything makes sense.

At Superthread, today felt like one of those moments. We turned on the light in a big room and it manifested it self in a customer saying, “Shut up and take my money.” and using expletives to describe how good Superthread is.
There’s still a long way to go, and many more rooms to explore. But days like today remind me why we do this.
Because when you finally see it all lit up—damn, it’s beautiful.